Thanksgiving is an underappreciated holiday, and I only say that because it is 100% true. It is the holiday most centered on spending time with family without receiving something material in return. For some, it is the only time of year that presents the opportunity to sit down to a long meal with those they love. Shared meals are one of the most significant aspects of forming a community, but I know as a person who eats a healthy lunch of McDonald’s take-out on the T once or twice a month that in the fast-paced lives we lead, sit-down meals can be hard to come by. Still, instead of appreciating this rare time for what it is, many are prone to skipping right over it in favor of Christmas.
Now, I can’t say I’m not guilty of listening to a few Christmas songs as November rolls around or watching a movie or two toward the month’s end, but I am a firm believer that Thanksgiving deserves its moment to shine, and a lot of Americans do not give it that. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Christmas, and I have the wardrobe, self-made six-hour Spotify playlist, and decorations to prove it, but Thanksgiving is really special to me. And I think it must have been to John Hughes as well. Among the slim pickings of Thanksgiving films, Hughes wrote not one, but two – Dutch (1991), and today’s pick: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987), which he also directed.
While I stockpile mashed potatoes and my Nonna’s cornbread, here’s the Thanksbitchin’ bio: (I hate that I wrote that as much as you do.)
Release Date: November 25, 1987 (one day before Thanksgiving Day)
Synopsis: Neal Page (Steve Martin) is in New York and in a hurry to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Everything starts to go wrong when someone hops in the cab he is planning to take to the airport. As fate would have it, he and the cab thief, Del Griffith (John Candy), begin to be thrown together on every stressful, hilarious leg of Neal’s seemingly doomed trip home. From a rerouted flight to motel rooms, buses, trains, a rental car, and more, high-strung Neal and go-with-the-flow Del are stuck together through it all. Along the way, the two men fight, laugh, and learn valuable lessons about family and how to treat a fellow human.
Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Wait for it… ZERO. Kevin Bacon is in this movie! Though it may be for just a couple of minutes, he kills it as the smarmy man Neal races against for a taxi.
Come for: A holiday movie devoted solely to Thanksgiving (though for some reason that alludes me, it is often marketed as a Christmas movie! Which it simply isn’t!).
Stay for: The amazing dynamic of Steve Martin and John Candy, two talented comedian-actors with the ability to seamlessly shift from underwear jokes to true-to-life dramatic expressions of their characters’ emotional struggles. In addition, there is some fantastic music, from a remix of Neal’s line “You’re messing with the wrong guy!” to the beautiful ending song “Every Time You Go Away.” (I have looked everywhere to find the version of the latter used in the movie, but it seems impossible. It is not on the soundtrack available on iTunes and is not listed anywhere I’ve looked it up. I would assume the film’s end credits credit the performer, so I will have to look into that. But until then, Paul Young’s version and the original, slightly differently named, Hall and Oates song “Everytime You Go Away” are pretty great.)
Had I seen it? Every Thanksgiving, probably since I was born, so about 20 times. It is rated “R,” but almost entirely for language (and the worst language is mostly confined to one hysterically funny scene), so my parents never had a problem with me and my siblings watching it.
Do I like it? I look forward to watching Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with my family all year, which makes it even better when Thanksgiving rolls around. It is one of our top Thanksgiving traditions, along with my geeking out over the Rockettes at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and having a post-dinner, pre-dessert dance party with my cousins. Though I am of the opinion that Neal is not always funny, as his jokes at Del’s expense often verge on cruel, I think that is the point of the character and the reason he has to get better.
I believe Planes, Trains, and Automobiles may be John Hughes’s best film, despite the fact that he is probably most famous for his high school movies. It is not only genuinely funny but deals expertly with the problem of loneliness, landing on the very important message of Thanksgiving: be thankful for what you have and share that with others who need it. You may not know how your life can positively change another’s.
I wish you all a relaxing, wonderful Thanksgiving this upcoming week. Join me next time as we head into Christmas with Gremlins (1984), written by Adventures in Babysitting director, Chris Columbus.
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